In Reply to: re: re: old photo - blueshirts posted by spiceloft on April 19, 2008 at 11:07:56:

It's one of the 'what ifs' of history...if the Blueshirts had managed a coup - something Eoin O'Duffy would have carried out had he got the opportunity, who knows what would have happened in this country, much of his ideology (e.g. anti-Semitism) was closely allied to the other fascist elements in Europe.
I'm sure many of the men in Pontoon wouldn't have thought themselves to be fascist, rather good Catholics trying to preserve what they thought to be right - unfortunately the tide of events often sweeps people along in unforeseen directions.

"All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing" - Edmund Burke